No Abolition of Slavery | Page 3

me not maxims from the schools;?Experience now my conduct rules; 270 O ------! trust thy lover true,?I must and will be slave to you.
Yet I must say--but pr'ythee smile,--?'Twas a hard trip to Paphos isle;?By your keen roving glances caught, 275 And to a beauteous tyrant brought;?My head with giddiness turn'd round,?With strongest fetters I was bound;?I fancy from my frame and face,?You thought me of th' Angola race{17}: 280 You kept me long indeed, my dear,?Between the decks of hope and fear;?But this and all the _seasoning_ o'er,?My blessings I enjoy the more.
Contented with my situation, 285 I want but little REGULATION;?At intervals _Chanson �� boire_?And good old port in my _Code noire_;?Nor care I when I've once begun,?How long I labour, in the sun 290 Of your bright eyes!--which beam with joy,?Warm, cheer, enchant, but don't destroy.
My charming friend! it is full time?To close this argument in rhime;?The rhapsody must now be ended, 295 My proposition I've defended;?For, Slavery there must ever be,?While we have Mistresses like thee!
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
{1} Had he the command of thunder, there can be no doubt that he would long before now have cleared a troublesome quarter.
{2} _Sedet eternumque sedebit
Infelix Theseus._ VIRG.
{3} If the abettors of the Slave trade Bill should think they are too harshly treated in this Poem, let them consider how they should feel if _their_ estates were threatened by an agrarian law; (no unplausible measure) and let them make allowances for the irritation which themselves have occasioned.
{4} That the Africans are in a state of savage wretchedness, appears from the most authentic accounts. Such being the fact, an abolition of the slave trade would in truth be precluding them from the first step towards progressive civilization, and consequently of happiness, which it is proved by the most respectable evidence they enjoy in a great degree in our West-India islands, though under well-regulated restraint. The clamour which is raised against this change of their situation, reminds us of the following passage in one of the late Mr. Hall's 'Fables for Grown Gentlemen.'
"'Tis thus the Highlander complains,?'Tis thus the Union they abuse,?For binding their backsides in chains,?And shackling their feet in shoes;?For giving them both food and fuel,?And comfortable cloaths,?Instead of cruel oatmeal gruel,?Instead of rags and heritable blows."
{5} The question now agitated in the British Parliament concerning slavery, is illustrated with great information, able argument, and perspicuous expression, in a work entitled, "_Doubts on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, by an Old Member of Parliament_;" printed for Stockdale, in Picadilly, 1790. It is ascribed to John Ranby, Esq.
That the evils of the Slave Trade should, like the evils incident to other departments of civil subordination, be humanely remedied as much as may be, every good man is convinced; and accordingly we find that great advances have been gradually made in that respect, as may be seen in various publications, particularly the evidence taken before the Privy-Council. It must be admitted, that in the course of the present imprudent and dangerous attempt to bring about a total abolition, one essential advantage has been obtained, namely, a better mode of carrying the slaves from Africa to the West-Indies; but surely this might have been had in a less violent manner.
{6} Diogenes being discovered in the street in fond intercourse with one of those pretty misses whom Sir William Dolben dislikes, steadily said, "{Greek: Phyten? Andras}--I plant men."
{7} Manchester Petition.
{8} Some of the Scottish Presbyteries petitioned.
{9} _Risum teneatis amici._ HORAT.
{10} When I forget HIM, may GOD forget me!
{11} _Mira cano, Sol occubuit, nox nulla sequuta._ See CAMDEN'S REMAINS.
{12} The state of slavery is acknowledged both in the Old Testament and the New.
{13} The great Dr. Bentley was Mr. Cumberland's grandfather.
{14} Mr. Cumberland is a descendant of Bishop Cumberland, who wrote _De legibus Natur?_.
{15} Messieurs Carpmeal, Macmanus, Jealous, and Townshend, gentlemen of the Publick Office, in Bow-Street.
{16} Sir William Young has a series of pictures, in which the negroes in our plantations are justly and pleasingly exhibited in various scenes.
{17} The Angola blacks are the most ferocious. The author does not boast, like Abyssinian _Yakoob_, "of no ungracious figure": nor does he, like another _beau gar?on_, Mr. Gibbon, prefix his pleasing countenance to captivate the ladies.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
All original spellings and punctuation have been retained, except as noted.
Title page: "By James Boswell, Esq." is handwritten below "P O E M."
Erratum: the change of "mighty" to "magick" has been made.
Line 9: "Thurlow" is handwritten above "T----".
Line 12, footnote 2: "Sedet eternumqre sedebit" corrected to "Sedet eternumque sedebit".
Line 27: There is no footnote marker in the original text for footnote 5.
Line 35: "Brown" is handwritten above "B----".
Line 100: The line numbering is inconsistent.
Line 109: "magick" substituted for "mighty" as specified in the erratum notice.
A press cutting from _The Athen?um_ of 4th May 1896 was included with the